Kansas City launches AI-powered campaign to share stories of young lives lost to fentanyl

By Andy Alcock

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — A new ad campaign is using artificial intelligence, or AI, to bring to life the tragic stories of three young people who died of accidental fentanyl overdoses.

Kansas City government, the United Way, and the advertising agency BarkleyOKRP created the campaign called “Unfinished Legacies.”

“Hi, I’m Jaden. I’m Victor. Hey, I’m Jordan,” begins a video unveiled Thursday at the Gem Theater.

Jaden Anderson, Victor Avalos Marmolejo, and Jordan Coburn all died of fentanyl overdoses.

But with the help of AI, their images and close representations of their voices are used to speak about their tragic deaths from beyond the grave.

At first, Victor’s family didn’t want to admit he had died from an overdose, fearing scorn from the Latino community.

In the video, AI Victor says, “I never had taken anything like that before, but I knew people who had, and they were fine.”

Ultimately, his family thought Victor’s story was too important to keep secret.

“If we wouldn’t have done this, it wouldn’t have impacted as many people,” said Erika Gaitan, Victor’s sister.

Jordan Coburn died before the birth of his second son after taking a pill from a friend for back pain following a car accident.

“This might be uncomfortable, but it should be,” AI Jordan said in the video.

“We thought it would be for the greater good in order to save someone else,” said Juanita Coburn, Jordan’s mother.

Jaden Anderson’s mother, Holly Yokum, participated in a panel discussion that Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas hosted after the video was shown.

“No one wants to be the face of something like this, but I want to share my story,” AI Jaden said in the video.

“I think that’s extremely important for people to see, because I did hear gasps when she showed up,” Yokum said.

“I think that shows us pain, in a very real, connecting, and different way,” Mayor Lucas said.

After Thursday’s event, Kansas City Health Department representatives handed out free boxes of Narcan, which can save someone from a fentanyl overdose.

The free boxes are also available at the health department.

According to the health department, there was a 1,000 percent increase in fentanyl overdose deaths from 2018 through 2022.

Overdose deaths were the second-leading cause of death for people ages 18 to 24 in Kansas City during that time frame, trailing only homicides.

The public safety campaign will appear on social media and paid media platforms. There will also be ads in public places throughout Kansas City.

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